Tag: found family

Book Review | Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Posted April 15, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn’t always what we seek.

In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.

Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned.

Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it.

What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn’t possibly imagine.

Still, adventure isn’t all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #19: A buddy read)
2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

Legends & Lattes was amazing! I fell in love with Viv and I want more of her! I would read all the books in this series if the author wrote more.

The Quotes

“I don’t know if I can explain it, but watching you read what I give you, putting a book in your hands and seeing what happens to you once you put it back down… I can’t make you understand how that gives me something I didn’t know I had to have.”

“Never trust a writer who doesn’t have too many books to read. Or a reader, for that matter,” said Zelia.”

“Every book is a little mirror, and sometimes you look into it and see someone else looking back.”

“Well,” breathed Fern, surveying the interior with both brows raised. “Fuck me.” Satchel drew back from her in alarm, and his eyes seemed to widen as the flames within them burned brighter. Viv leaned down near his skull and whispered, “It’s just a figure of speech, not a request.”

The Characters

We’ve already met Viv, and in this book we meet Fern, Maylee, Gallina, and Satchel. Also Potroast. I love all of them, Fern especially. She really came to life for me. I love Satchel too, and Maylee. You know what, I love them all!

My Thoughts

The difference between this book and Legends & Lattes is that you know Viv is only here temporarily, and she’s going to leave all the friends she met here behind. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t even matter because sometimes it’s not about how much time you spend with a person, but the quality of the time you spend with them. I thought it was beautiful how all of them felt that it was worth getting to know each other even when they knew it would only be for a while.

I also love the slice of life we see with Fern’s bookshop and the running of it. I thought I loved it when we saw Viv setting up her cafe in Legends & Lattes, but I really love seeing how Viv helped Fern revamp the bookshop. All that talk about books, and the reading experience, and getting excited about book events… I wish I could’ve been there!

My Feels

There are many books I love but I would never want to live in their world. This series is one that I really love and wouldn’t mind living in. I would love to be friends with Viv, Fern, Tandri from the first book, and pretty much everyone Viv calls friend. It’s just amazing how Baldree has written these characters, how Viv seems so real and tangible, the way she brings people together and make everyone she meets, everywhere she goes, better than before. I love her!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Posted February 14, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #12: Title starting with the letter “L”)
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

Everyone keeps saying how great it is! I do sometimes get apprehensive about a book that might potentially be overhyped because I don’t want to end up disappointed, but I felt certain that I would like this one somehow.

The Quotes

“Things don’t have to stay as what they started out as.”

“His eyes widened. “Well, shit. Milky bean water. I’ll be damned.” He took another, longer sip and burned his tongue.”

“I was just thinking that you don’t have to forget who you were … because that’s what brought you here.”

“You’ve found a very peaceful place here. A special place. You’ve planted something, and now its blossoming. Very nice. A good spot to rest. My thanks to you for letting an old-timer shade under the branches of what you’ve grown.”

The Characters

Viv is the main character in this book, but every single character in this book is what makes the book! It’s the perfect ensemble cast; there are the core important characters to Viv, and to her cafe, and there are the supporting characters who are just so vibrant and unique in each of their own ways. Every single one of them were brought so vividly to life. I love them all!

My Thoughts

I loved the story from beginning to end! For a high fantasy novel that focuses on building a cafe business rather than embarking on a perilous quest to kill dragons, it’s surprisingly engrossing! I guess it makes sense, whether you’re killing dragons or serving coffee, the interesting parts of a story is in how you solve the problems, and with Legends & Lattes, it was wonderful watching Viv and her friends navigate the issues surrounding the running of a cafe.

My Feels

I don’t even know where to begin to talk about my feels. First of all, we all know I love found family stories. And I loved it here too, so much! It was so heartwarming to see how Viv made friends, the kind of person she was, the kind of people she drew to herself – because of the person she was. I loved how some enemies became friends. I loved how she protected her friends and her friends protected her. I loved the development of all the friendships she made since moving to Thune, not even a few months in a new place. I loved everything about it, and my only wish is that there was more!

I know there’s another book out, a prequel, and you can bet I’m going to read it too, but seriously, there needs to be a whole bunch of books in this series. I need more of them!

My Rating

5/5 stars. I love it, and it’s going into my Favorite Books of All Time Hall of Fame!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Posted February 2, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #45: Chapter headings have dates)
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I love fairy tales. I love tales about faeries, and changelings, and magic, and folklore, and I love the whole idea of this book! I’ve been seeing this book everywhere, and of course, I couldn’t resist! It’s like I’ve been enchanted!

The Quotes

“Perhaps it is always restful to be around someone who does not expect anything from you beyond what is in your nature.”

“One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories.”

“There was something about the stories bound between those covers, and the myriad species of Folk weaving in and out of them, each one a mystery begging to be solved. I suppose most children fall in love with faeries at some point, but my fascination was never about magic or the granting of wishes. The Folk were of another world, with its own rules and customs—and to a child who always felt ill-suited to her own world, the lure was irresistible.”

The Characters

I love Emily Wilde! I love Wendell! I love Shadow! I love Poe! I love Thora! I love Aud! Omg, I love them all!

I relate so much to Emily. I found it painful and funny how awkward she was around people and yet, she was so amazing at her job, so resourceful and smart! To be clear, I relate to the awkward part, not the smart part, I’m not an intellectual and I probably couldn’t write a faerie encyclopaedia. I also relate to how practical she was, not really caring about her clothes looking good or her cottage feeling homey. It always seems to be the woman’s job to make the house homey and to look good, but I love that Wendell is the homebody in this book!

I love seeing Wendell through Emily’s eyes, I think I fell more in love with him because of her practical and objective descriptions. In fact, I loved seeing all the other characters from her eyes. There’s something about the way she writes that’s so matter-of-fact, and yet, you feel the feels she tries to downplay.

My Thoughts

What an adventure! I loved discovering this magical world of Emily Wilde’s, where faeries and faerie folklore are studied and discussed in academic circles. I loved learning about this world through Emily’s notebook. It was so interesting to be introduced to the different faerie folk, to see Emily’s interactions with each of them, to see her embroiled in certain situations in regards to them, and how she finds solutions to any issue she comes across. It is hard not to fall in love with her, even though she tries to be unlikable!

My Feels

Two words; found family. I am a sucker for it. I loved how she started out practically ostracized, and ended up with a whole community of people who loves her as family. I get choked up just thinking about it and how it all came about.

My Rating

5/5 stars. I’m a character driven reader, and this book has the best characters all around. I need to see more of them!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Light Bringer by Pierce Brown

Posted January 15, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Light Bringer by Pierce Brown

Darrow returns as Pierce Brown’s New York Times bestselling Red Rising series continues in the thrilling sequel to Dark Age.

“The measure of a man is not the fear he sows in his enemies. It is the hope he gives his friends.”—Virginia au Augustus

The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains.

But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend.

The worlds once needed the Reaper. But now they need Darrow. Because after the dark age will come a new age: of light, of victory, of hope.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #7: At least four different POVs)
2024 Finishing the Series Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

It’s the sixth book in the Red Rising series, and I spent the last year and a half reading (and rereading) the first five books.

The Quotes

“I’m not really blessed at keeping friends. But you are. I truly respect that. I know how special your friends are to you, how protective you are of them. And it means…quite a bit to me that you’ve invited me into your pack and made me feel welcome. No…it means everything, really. Without this, without your friends, I’m very much alone.”

“Forgetting is essential to learning, just as exhaling is essential to breathing. Breathe out, then in. Find the self, then lose it once again. Thus, the path goes ever onward.”

“The point of war is not to kill your enemies, but to come to an acceptable peace while losing as few people as possible.”

“If a man cannot learn from his mistakes, then what hope is there but to kill us all at first sin?”

The Characters

There are a lot of notable characters in this series, and in this book, but I’ll focus on the ones that stand out to me and that I feel were most important to this book.

Darrow – the main protagonist, the Reaper, the leader, and the one everyone rallies around. Totally flawed character and makes a lot of mistakes and enemies, but I love him.

Sevro – Darrow’s best friend and right hand man. I love him, and I hate it when Sevro and Darrow are apart or at odds.

Cassius – I was ambivalent about him, but I’ve grown to love him in this book.

Lysander – one of the antagonists. Cassius mentored and raised him a bit, but their values don’t align.

Fa – another antagonist. Fierce and scary, but a great antagonist and such a great part of the story.

My Thoughts

I have journeyed long with the characters in this series, and I have fallen in love with so many of them. I know their stories, I know the things they went through to get where they are now. From the 4th book onward, there had been no rest, no peace for the good guys. Everything seemed to be going against them and the stakes just kept getting higher. In this book, it was more of the same. I think maybe in the first three books, everything seemed to go well for them to the point of being unrealistic maybe? But these last three books, it’s like everything kept going wrong and I felt so frustrated for them. There were some wins, and some very strong scenes in the later part of the book, and I loved them because we really needed the wins. But there is still a 7th book and we don’t have a proper resolution yet. My beloved characters are far from safe, and I am still so anxious for them. I need the 7th book, and I need them to be okay!

My Feels

This book… just kills me. My emotions are all over the place! I loved so many of the scenes, I love when the good guys emerge triumphant, I love how powerful those scenes were, and I cheered for the wins. And then there were some quiet scenes that were no less powerful. The friendships, the love, the trust, and the feeling of knowing your friends have got your back. It’s heartwarming. And it’s also heartbreaking. This series, with the last 5 books, have broken my heart over and over again, and with this 6th book, it has broken me again. I am inconsolable!

Spoiler
That scene where Cassius and Darrow had a moment, and talked about how they loved each other and was grateful for each other, made me cry so hard. It was so heartwarming and I loved them so much. And it was then I knew Cassius was in danger! Why give me that scene if not to break my heart into a million pieces later?! And sure enough! I am devastated!

My Rating

5/5 stars. How could it be anything else?

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Holly by Stephen King

Posted January 3, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Holly by Stephen King

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #10: Told in non-chronological order)
2024 Finishing the Series Challenge
2024 Series Enders Reading Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I’m a huge fan of Stephen King’s works. I haven’t read all his older books, but I’ll always jump on his new releases when I can. When Holly came out last year, I didn’t realize it was part of a series, nor that her story started from the Mr. Mercedes series – which I hadn’t read at the time. So I started reading the Mr. Mercedes books first, and finished them, then I checked out the Holly Gibney series, and realized I’d already read the first one, The Outsider, and loved it, although I didn’t realize at the time who Holly was. I just finished the second one listed as part of the series, If It Bleeds, so I finally got to read Holly, the series ender! (I’m hoping there will be more books, I love Holly and I want more!)

The Characters

Well, Holly, of course. I love her in this book and I love her even more because I read the Mr. Mercedes books first and saw her growth. I wrote about it in my review for If It Bleeds, that Holly can appear to be timid and vulnerable, but she is one of the most courageous characters I have ever had the privilege to get to know. She’s smart and resourceful, dedicated and loyal, organized and determined. But she’s not infallible. She is flawed and makes stupid mistakes, but she calls herself out on them.

I also really love Barbara and Jerome, siblings who are also Holly’s closest friends, and who help her with some of her investigations. We meet them in the Mr. Mercedes series, and through all these stories, their bond have only gotten stronger.

Now, the villains in this book, Professors Rodney and Emily Harris; I hate them, but they are such well-written characters. It’s fascinating to sort of see through their POV, and not be able to fathom how there can be people capable of such evil, and the cognitive dissonance they must cultivate in order to justify their actions.

The other villain in this book is even more interesting, not because she is more evil than the professors, but because her kind of evil is more common, and her victims more close to home. Holly Gibney’s mother, Charlotte Gibney. We meet her from the Mr. Mercedes series, and we see a bit more of her in If It Bleeds too. In this book, Charlotte isn’t even present except in Holly’s mind and we see the psychological and emotional toll Charlotte’s evil takes on Holly.

The Quotes

“Gifts are fragile. You must never entrust yours to people who might break it.”

“Just when you think you’ve seen the worst human beings have to offer, you find out you’re wrong.”

“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope. If it does, climb it. See what’s at the top.”

“Does anyone ever get complete closure? Especially from a parent?”

“Holder-onners are never able to understand let-goers. They are tribes that just can’t understand each other.”

My Thoughts

I love that the villains were elderly and used their frailty as bait and alibi. I love that they are scary and terrifying to the reader who knows their true nature before the characters in the book do. Personally, I don’t think old people are so easily exempted from suspicion, especially if their eccentricities have been noted by their students and colleagues, as it seems they have with the professors in this book. I also like the way Stephen King incorporated Covid and differing political standpoints into the storyline. It’s true to life, and it’s true to Holly’s character, and I think it makes sense for authenticity, even if some people may not agree with Holly. She’s the MC of this book, so her viewpoint is the one that matters to the story.

For more discussion on the book – with SPOILERS – check out Notes & Discussion | Holly by Stephen King. This post has SPOILERS and assumes you have already finished the book. It is password-protected to prevent accidental spoiling. Password is “SPOILME0001”. Proceed at your own risk.

My Feels

This book was so intense, especially towards the end. I was at the edge of my seat and I literally finished more than 50% of the audiobook, about 6-7 hours, in one day because I needed to get to the end. There were parts of it that broke my heart, others that filled me with rage and disgust, and still more that sent shivers down my spine. There were also parts that filled my heart and made me happy. I was worried for Holly, proud of her, exasperated at her, and I love her so, so much.

My Rating

5/5 stars. Was there any doubt?

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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